Crawley Town 3-0 Scunthorpe
- Published
Gary Alexander helped Crawley get their League One campaign off to a flying start against a wasteful Scunthorpe.
The new Crawley skipper tapped his side into the lead after Hope Akpan had knocked the ball down into his path.
And he doubled the advantage from the penalty spot after being hauled down in the box by Scunthorpe's Tom Newey.
On-loan Jonathan Forte added a third late on when he rounded keeper Sam Slocombe, while the Iron's Mark Duffy was sent off for a second yellow.
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Crawley Town manager Richie Barker told BBC Sussex:
Dream start for Crawley boss Barker
"It certainly wasn't perfect and we were disappointed by the amount of chances Scunthorpe created.
"We're in League One now and you're never going to dominate a game the whole way through, whether you're at the top or bottom. Certainly Scunthorpe had more chances and it could have ended up 6-3.
"The games come thicker and faster for the next couple of weeks and we are going to struggle until we get more time on the training ground, but we will try and continue to improve."
Scunthorpe United manager Alan Knill told BBC Radio Humberside:
Knill critical of referee performance
"You saw it, it's never a 3-0 game, we've probably had better chances than the home team.
"I didn't think the ref's performance was too good at the crucial moments and when he looks back at the penalty he'll think it's pretty soft, we did and it kind of killed the game really.
"There was some good performances and positives to take out of it, and with the first game you don't want to lose 3-0 but it wasn't a 3-0 game."
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